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By Laurie Sheril
Welcome to the first in my series on "Drag in
the Cinema." Actually, I hate the word "drag",
but frankly I can't think of a better term for what has been a
long history boys masquerading as girls throughout the more than
100 years of film!

Charlie Chaplin "A Woman"
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In order to do a proper history on this subject we
should take things in chronological order. So, the first few installments
will cover the history of drag in the silent era. And who better
to start with than the man G. B. Shaw called the one true
genius of the cinema...Charlie Chaplin.
Chaplin starred in no less than 3 shorts in which
female impersonation played a part. The most famous of these was,
no doubt, the aptly titled "A Woman." In this 1915
comedy Charlie disguises himself as a woman in order to allude
two pursuers. After shaving his trademark mustache, Charlie looks
fairly fetching considering the styles of the era.
Charlie wasn't the only one in the Chaplin family
to attempt female impersonation. His half-brother Sydney played
not only in a silent film version of "Charley's Aunt"
but also in the 1925 silent film, "Man on the Box."
In this film he disguised (there's that word again) himself as
a maid in order to get the goods on the bad guy. Based on photos
I've seen, his get-up was quite effective.

Stan Laurel "Get 'em Young"
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Other stars of the silent era who camped it up in
drag included Stan Laurel both by himself in the 1926 comedy "Get
'em Young" and with Hardy in the 1927 silent film short,
"That's My Wife." In this film Stan has to pretend
to be Ollie's wife. Using a wig from a doll and some of Ollie's
real wife's clothes, Stan makes quite a convincing dame. That
is until, at a nightclub, Stan's stockings start to droop revealing
a less than shapely and quite hairy pair of legs!
The most popular female impersonator on the stage,
during this era was Julian Eltinge, though his success on stage
never quite translated onto the screen. He did appear in several
films between 1917 and 1925. Among them "The Countess Charming"
(1917), "The Widow's Might" (1917), "War Relief"
(1918) and one of his last films, "Madame Behave" (1925).
Certainly Laurel and Hardy and Charlie Chaplin were
not the only comedians of the silent era to don drag. Others who
found their way into feminine finery were Wallace Berry (who appeared
in a series of films as a Swedish maid called "Sweedie),
Fatty Arbuckle, Ben Turpin and Harry Langdon. Their antics proved
that a good comedian can make you laugh, not be "resorting
to drag", but by incorporating it!
Next time we'll take a look at some silent pictures
that used drag in a dramatic effect. See you then!
--Laurie Sheril
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